At the end of the year, the global situation is still turbulent, and the war in Eastern Europe and the Middle East is likely to continue into the new year.
And we can also learn some truths in the two wars between Russia and Ukraine and Palestine and Israel. Just as the well-known American magazine "The Diplomat" pointed out: the current two conflicts have reminded the two great powers of China that weapons are won not only through technological superiority, but also through availability.
If we look at these two wars from the perspective of weapons applications, we can find many interesting points, and even overturn some of the conclusions of the past.
First of all, in modern warfare, which emphasizes "high-precision, sophisticated," the numerical superiority of weapons cannot be ignored.
In the Russia-Ukraine war, both sides have consumed extremely large amounts of weapons, and Ukraine has had to maintain the front by constantly seeking assistance from the West. On the Russian side, a lot of old tanks that have been mothballed for a long time have been moved out, re-maintained and then put into the battlefield. Russia, for example, refurbished 800 T-62 tanks. From the perspective of modern warfare, the old antique T-62 is completely unsuitable for war, but the fact is that the Russian army used these refurbished weapons to stabilize the battlefield.
On the Palestinian-Israeli battlefield, Hamas uses improvised rockets to attack Israel, although Israel has a very powerful air defense system, such as the Iron Dome anti-aircraft missile, but in the face of tens of thousands of rockets, Israel's air defense force has also begun to show fatigue.
Secondly, simple and practical weapons can also play to their own advantages.
For example, on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, there is a weapon that has made a name for itself, and it is the Geranium-2 drone, which is known as the "air motorcycle". This kind of drone has a simple structure and a single function, and can only be used as a suicide weapon, but it is cheaper, Russia can mass-produce it, and it is precisely this weapon that has become the demon of Ukraine and the West.
In addition, on the Palestinian-Israeli battlefield, Hamas has used tunnels as shelters and shoulder-fired rockets to destroy Israeli tanks. It is not a myth that simple weapons can be adapted to local conditions and defeat more advanced weapons.
In addition, recently, the Houthi weapons have caused unrest in the West in the Red Sea, relying only on cheap drones and some low-cost missiles.
Therefore, although the technology of weapons is very important, can we say that if we have technology, we will be able to win? The above case shows that the availability of weapons is the key to victory. What does usability include?
The United States and China have the most say in this.
On the part of the United States, in the past, it has developed quite technologically advanced weapons such as the Littoral Combat Ship and the Zumwalt-class destroyer, but due to their lack of practicality, they have eventually become chicken ribs.
China's rapid military growth in the past decade or so is inseparable from our pursuit of weapons availability. China's weapons do not blindly choose heap technology, but will be developed in combination with current actual needs. For example, the 055 drive is to cooperate with China to build a new generation of aircraft carrier battle groups.
In addition, China, as the world's largest industrial country, cannot find an opponent in terms of the efficiency of weapons manufacturing. China is the largest arms producer, which also shows that the military potential of China and the United States is not of the same grade, and it is the United States that should be feared.